Artist-In-Residence
About Artist-In-Residence
Artists-in-Residence (AIR) unties youth with professional artists to collaborate on public artworks which enhances neighborhood infrastructure, contributes to neighborhood beautification, revitalizes underutilized public spaces, or responds to a pertinent community issue.
WHAT WE DO
AWE helps facilitate the program by first, hiring local professional and emerging artists to work with students in schools and youth serving community settings. AWE then manages the creation and installation of the artwork, ensuring that the project makes an impact on the community. Projects are organized year-round during the school day, after school, and during the summer.
WHY PUBLIC ART?
Public art has the ability to bring arts engagement into communities through accessible access. It has the ability to bring smiles to infrastructure that was once turn sparse city blocks into something to admire. Public art also encourages engagement with the arts. Once installed, it can become incorporated in day to day life. Through this public art can display a new vision in community members as it shifts perceptions, creates identity, and inspires us as individuals and a collective.
Not only that, but it shows pride in students within the community as their accomplishment is celebrated by the community.
WHY YOUTH?
AWE believes in enhancing the potential of young people and providing access to arts-rich experiences to cultivate community. Research shows students from low-income families who participated in arts-rich experiences were three times more likely to earn their bachelor’s degree than those with low arts exposure.
*The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies, from the National Endowment for the Arts*
AWE artists can make your next event an art-making opportunity for any group.
To join our creative team of teaching artists, check out our current calls for artists application.
Make a difference in a child’s creative development by donating your time and talents with AWE.